Patent Filed By Sony For “Separable” Motion Controller
You know what I miss? I miss the days when you plugged a game into your console, turned it on, picked up the controller, and just played your game. No gimmicks, no “syncing”, and no handwaving, just mashing buttons and cursing when you’re a split second too slow and fall to your death. I miss those days.
As we’re all aware nowadays, however, it’s not that simple anymore. Thanks to the Wii and Wii U it’s now trendy to have controllers that have accelerometers and gyroscopes, where not only do you have to worry about pressing the right buttons, but you have to have the controller in the right position making the right moves to boot! Sony has gotten into this game a little bit, with their PlayStation Move controllers, and according to this patent that’s been fished up it looks like it’s going to get even worse.
This past May Sony filed a patent for a “Hybrid Separable Motion Controller”. According to the patent, the controller can split in two, and both halves will have motion-detecting devices that can be be used independent of the other side. Games will be able to detect which configuration will be used, meaning that you’re likely to see warning signs in games saying “Please put the controller together” or “Please take the controller apart”.
I have to wonder, how likely is it that Sony will actually develop this controller? While many consoles are relying on gimmicks, such as how the Wii U has the TouchPad and next Xbox is rumored to have the Kinect 2, is a break-apart controller really something Sony wants to do? After all, people are giving the Wii U crap for having a short battery life, and with this controller you’d need not 1, but 2 battery packs. You also need to consider the fact that conjoining and separating the controller is going to induce wear-and-tear, and not only that, but what happens when somebody’s dog runs off with half of what is likely to be a very expensive controller? This patent might not be indicative of anything Sony is doing, but rather a matter of covering their bases.
